


The Storm

by c00kie



Series: Between Here and There [5]
Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-08 01:43:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7738594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c00kie/pseuds/c00kie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leslie visits Ben at college while Andy's away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Storm

Leslie count to ten and exhales. There's music coming from inside Ben's room, nothing she can recognize but is sure it's one of those 90's alternative bands he's always listening to. As Leslie raises her hand to knock on his door, a girl with legs that reach the sky walks by in a towel, carrying a shower caddy. Leslie watches the girl opens the door next to Ben's and disappears inside. She has a tattoo of fairy on her shoulder blade. Should Leslie get a tattoo on her shoulder blade? She could get a unicorn or a portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt -

The door opens and Ben stands there, eyebrow raised. “Are you going to stand there all night giving yourself a pep talk or are you going to come in?”  
Oh god. She hasn’t even reached the pep talk portion of this endeavor.

He rolls his eyes and grabs her wrists,pulling her inside. “Hi, Leslie,” he says closing the door.

“Hi.”

He wants her there. He’s the one who called her and said, “Andy’s got that game in Ohio, you should come see me.”

“Hi,” he says again, making her realize how close he is. And that they’re alone.

They haven't really been alone in- well, ever. Sometimes it felt like a worldwide conspiracy to make sure they were never alone for more than twenty minutes.

Not that a lot couldn't be done in twenty minutes.

Tonight is different though. Clear with no chance of interruption.

And of course, someone knocks on Ben's door.

He sighs, apologizing before he goes to answer it. Leslie cranes her neck to see it's the neighbor. She's dressed now, but her hair is still wet. Leslie swallows, sitting on Andy's bed while Ben searches his bag for his Spanish notes.

The girl looks at Ben like Leslie isn't even there.

"Here you go, Krista." Ben says, giving her his the notes.

"Thanks. You're a lifesaver."

"That's me," Ben says with a grin.

Krista laughs and reaches out, stroking Ben's arm. Leslie growls under her breath. Neither of them look at her.

"I'll get these back to you,"Krista promises.

"Okay, cool," Ben agrees. "I know where you live if you don't!"

They both laugh and it makes Leslie feel worse than the time he made out with Cindy.

"How about I come back in an hour?"

"Yeah, cool."

Leslie wants to shout no, not cool. Who knows what stage of foreplay they're going to be in.

She's done everything you're supposed to when you go visit your boyfriend at his dorm. She's shaved. She's wearing her black underwear and her sexy bra. She even made sure to use the sexy vanilla lotion and not her usual stuff for dry skin. She's ready for this.

She doesn't want anyone, especially other girls interrupting.

Ben closes the door and turns back to Leslie. He must see the anger written on Leslie's face because he says, "Really?"

"She has a crush on you."

"Okay."

"That's it? Okay?"

"Well it's not like I actually care," Ben says, shrugging as he gets his laptop off his desk. "I hope you're in the mood for Indiana Jones-"

"You flirted back." She can see from his expression she's won. She doesn't feel victorious though. Not when he's staring at her like she's grown a second head. Not when he's obviously reciting Pi in his head to calm down.

She came here to make out, not fight.

"Ben-" she starts. 

He walks out without saying a word.

For the first ten minutes Leslie waits for Ben to come back. She knows he's just cooling off, and when he'll come back, everything will be okay.

Forty minutes after Ben leaves, Leslie starts to worry. She looks at her phone to see if he's texted her, but there's nothing from him.

Almost an hour later, Leslie wonders if she should leave. If Ben's really just waiting to see her go.

Ten minutes after that, there's a knock on the door. Leslie opens it, knowing it's probably Krista.

"Where's Ben?"

"Um, he went to the store for a cheesecake."

Krista looks puzzled for a moment but then shrugs. "Well, I'll just put these on his desk," she says walking past Leslie to go over to Ben's desk. "Oh, Indy! I love those movies."

Of course she does.

"Yeah."

Krista looks at Leslie again. "Hey, aren't you Andy's sister? I thought he was away tonight."

"He is," Leslie says, "I'm visiting Ben."

She's said too much.

"Huh," Krista says, puzzled again. "So you and Ben are friends?"

"Yep," Leslie answers. "We're friends. We hang out."

"That's kind of weird," Krista says, "Hanging out with your brother's roommate."

Leslie wants to say it's not weird, but she can't. It's not like they hung out alone before they started going out.

"Wait, are you two-"

"No!" Leslie shouts, probably too loudly to be believable. "We're just friends."

If Krista doesn't believe her she doesn't say so. "Well, okay. Let Ben know I dropped off his notes."

She leaves and Leslie closes the door behind her, before sliding down it to the floor.

He's gone for two hours. Two hours of Leslie pacing his floor and stress eating the brownies she brought.

What is she doing? She's Leslie Knope. She doesn't wait around. 

She sends him a text saying she's leaving. The response is immediate. Stay there.

Leslie picks up a book and sits on Andy's bed. She waits.

It's another forty five minutes before Ben comes back.

His eyes are red and his clothes reek of marijuana.

"You were gone for over two hours," Leslie says, trying to keep her voice under control but it shakes anyway. "And you were out getting high."

"Yeah," he says his hands shaking as he throws his keys on his desk, "I went and got high and then I did some thinking. This isn't going to work-"

"Yeah," Leslie grabs her bag and leaves before he can say anything else. 

She realizes she forgot her shoes at the end of the hall. She thinks about going back to get them but decides against it, not wanting to ever see Ben's dumb face again. She continues, wiping her face as she rushes to get out of his building. 

She's halfway to her car, the asphalt wet and bumpy on her feet when she hears him call her name. 

Leslie wants to ignore it, but she can't. Not when he's saying her name with desperation she's never heard before. 

There's a crackle in the air. It's going to rain soon. That doesn't seem to really matter now that Ben is standing in front of her. 

He doesn't speak though. Leslie's pretty sure it's because he's high. 

She doesn't have time for this. 

"I missed you," he says finally. Right as she's about to walk away.

"I know," she speaks through her teeth, "I missed you too that's why I came-"

"No. I mean just now. When you you left, just now, I missed you. And before while I was gone. I wanted some air and then I ran into Billy and I thought it would help me clear my head."

"Well if you missed me so much why were you gone for two hours?" 

"I'm sorry," he says, brushing her hair from her face. "Really." 

The rain washed away the scent of weed off his shirt, as well as most of her anger. There's some that lingers though."I'm still mad, you know." 

"I know. I was too but you know-"

"You got stoned instead." 

"Yeah." 

There's another crack of thunder. A drop of rain falls on Leslie but it's hard to care about a little rain when Ben is backing her up into a car, his tongue in her mouth, teeth against her lips, hands in her hair. His lips leave hers to travel down her neck. His hands pull her shirt from her pants, fingers drawing circles in her skin. 

More rain falls. Ben just keeps kissing her like he doesn't even notice. 

She wonders if this is a side effect. 

Everything stops. Ben's lips, his hands, everything except the rain. He raises his head, wiping the water off his face. 

"It's raining."

Leslie cackles. "Yeah."

"We should go inside," he suggests, "unless you still want to leave. But you shouldn't, because the roads are wet."

"I'm wet," Leslie says. She's pretty sure her clothes are glued to her body now. That Ben and anyone else who might see her, can _see_ all of her.

"You're soaked." 

"So are you." She draws line down his chest. 

"C'mon," he says, taking her hand. "Let's go." 

The moment they're inside, Leslie actually feels cold. Ben leads her up to his room again, noting how she's shivering. 

He gives her a towel. While she's squeezing the water from her hair, she notices her overnight bag is unzipped. "Crap on a crayfish."

"What's wrong?"

"I brought a change of clothes but they were in my bag and-"

Ben throws her a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants before she can finish. "You can use the bathroom down the hall if you want-"

"Turn around." 

Ben smirks but turns anyway. As Leslie undresses, she realizes everything, including her panties, are soaked. She sighs and bends down to rummage through her bag, hoping her underwear is still dry. It's not. 

"Is something wrong?"

"Um, just my underwear is- it's wet."

"Okay," Ben says, pulling out a pair of boxers from his dresser. "Will these work?"

"Yes, thank you." 

She puts Ben's clothes on. They're all big on her, but they're warm and dry and smell like him. They make her feel safe. Still, she wonders if he would give Krista his clothes. 

She doesn't mean to ask, but she's tired and still a little sad and it just slips out. 

Ben sighs, throwing his towel in his hamper. "Leslie, this isn't going to work-"

"You brought me back in here to dump me? I understood you the first time, Ben. I was leaving-" 

"If you don't trust me.," he says, frustration seeping through every word. "How many times do I have to say I'm in love with you before you get it?"

She can't believe it. Ben's in love with her. There's another crack of thunder and she starts to count the time before the sky flashes. The storm is over them now. Another crack, another flash. The building goes dark. They don't move. 

"That's the first time." 

"What?" 

"You've never said you loved me before." 

There's a pause. The rain has stopped but the room is still dark. Leslie thinks Ben's going to argue with her, say that he most certainly has. But instead he just smiles and says, "Well, I do."

There's a part of Leslie that wants to say but you flirt, but you hide me, but it's kind of hard to when Ben's tongue is in her mouth. And as he pulls her even closer and she feels his hands on her body, she realizes that it's not the words that matter. It's this. It's them. 

They're going to be okay.


End file.
